It's that time of year.. to be drug to the door by a toddler.

Dallin is fortunate enough to have FOUR boy cousins all within a year of each other (not counting the countless second cousins). Now that it is warm, what does everyone of them want to do? Go outside!!! It is so fun to hear about all of them grabbing any spare hand, and dragging them to the door, in hopes that they get to go outside! Dallin is having so much fun outside, helping us with the yard work and playing in our garden beds. After playing in the dirt, he gets to take a bath, which he LOVES. Man, he has the best of both worlds!

Adventures in Thrifting

I decided to give thrifting sweaters a try I went to Goodwill and found loads and loads of things that I could buy. I ended up getting two bed sheets, and three sweaters all for $11. The bed sheets have such fun, vintage patterns that I can't wait to cut up and make something out of. The mossy green sweater was already felted a bit, so I am going to felt it a bit more. There was a pink chenille sweater that I pulled apart and made Maggie, the whale (next to maggie in the picture is Max, the octopus, a product of my scrap yarn experiment). And then there was the SUPER large, grey hoody pullover. I got so much yarn out of this one, although the quality of the yarn is not that good. It is quite thick, which is nice, but... I will try to explain it how Paul did. (It was made in Ecuador, by the way). Paul's description, "They had the sheep and the loom and the knitting machine all right next to each other and there was one long piece of wool/yarn that went from one station to the next. No cleaning, or removing burrs and dirt, just one continuous string." If I could illustrate, there would be a drawing of the whole contraption.This is a picture of the yarn drying after I washed it for the second time. I am actually glad that the yarn is so "shoddy" because I can experiment with it a lot and not be afraid to ruin it. I am planning on dying it all different colors. I read on a blog somewhere (and of course I can't find it anymore) about dying yarn with Kool Aid. Sounds like fun, probably smells good, too!

To Me, Pure Indulgence

Chicken fingers are one of my many favorite foods. They are yummy, yummy, yummy! But I can never eat one plain. It has to have creamy honey mustard to dunk it in. I love my honey mustard sauce, so I made one that was a litter lower in fat. Somehow, eating fried chicken fingers with this low-fat sauce, made me feel a little better about cheating on my diet!

Honey Mustard Sauce:

3 parts low fat mayo
1 part yellow mustard
1 part honey, honey
A few grinds of pepper

Whisk and devour!

Q-tip, anyone?

What a silly little boy! I love that little kids can make anyone laugh at the funny things they do. I think every kid that I have ever met is cute and funny! As parents, Paul and I having fun watching Dallin grow and learn new funny things. Today, we were getting ready in the bathroom when Dallin walked in. He had a mischievous grin on his face and a Q-tip sticking out of his nose. To the question, "What are you doing?" came a giggle, and he grabbed the Q-tip and ran away as fast as his little legs could take him.

...Here is more and more and more of Big D...Around and around and around the table he runs! He loves to run around naked!! And he loves his Dad's hats even more, which he usually puts on backwards or sideways.

Trying to tie Dad's big, smelly shoes.

A classic crusty shared with the camera as I am documenting Dallin's first time-out! Just chillin' on the couch. Don't those cute little armpits look like they need a tickle??
This is one of our new favorite finds in Lexington, the public library. We have a good library in Winchester, but it doesn't have a huge toddler section. This one in Lexington is very toddler friendly, we like that!

Picture perfect

I have to thank my friend Loralee for this great idea. The picture board she made for her daughter was so cute. I wish I had a picture of it, pink rick-rack and all! I finally got pictures printed for the photo board that I made for Dallin's room. It only took me two months to order them! Digital camera's are my favorite, especially since I take twenty pictures of one thing and only one actually turns out decent. The problem is that I never get around to printing them. I need to be better at it and get some scrapbooking done with them or something. Back to the picture board... I haven't decided if little yellow stars will find their way onto the mini clothes pins to tie the flag theme together or not. Maybe in two more months.

Cow-->Milk-->Cheese

I am sparing you any picture this time. You will thank me later!

Waking up this morning was so nice. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, there was a slight breeze coming in from the window. Spring has been so nice. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom to do the usual morning stuff. "Mooo." What? Did I just hear a "moo"? Seven months ago and even 26 years beyond that, a "moo" would have been a normal sound coming from beyond the walls of my house. We usually had cows either in my back yard, or across the street. They would sneak out and roam the neighborhood. Again, "MOOOOOO!!!" That is weird. I know there are no cows in the neighborhood that I live in now, and the closest field of them is a ways away. "Mooo." I am so confused. I throw on my robe (my cool, new kimono that my Dad brought be from Thailand, sooo comfy) and I run around looking out every window we have. I even went out on our back deck. No cows in site. The neighbors probably think that I am crazy, running around in a bright red robe. Even now as I am writing this, I hear it. Am I going crazy? It sounded so close that I expected to look out into our back yard and see one munching on my weeds. And then we would have to go out and chase the sucker back into his fence. I think I am crazy.

Speaking of cows, I think Dallin might be hiding one under his bed. Maybe that is where the mooing is coming from. Paul and I have found that this little boy is sneakier that we thought. He has been running a secret cheese making operation. I guess this kind of thing is an epidemic for kids all over the place. The boy has six sippy cups and they all seem to disappear at the same time, when they are FULL of whole milk. We have routine searches which result in quite the loot. They usually all end up in the same place, behind the big chair with all of his books, Dallin's favorite spot. The quality of cheese that has been made is so unique that I can't help but wonder how much money could we get for this???

Babies, Babies, Babies!!!

There are so many babies to tell you about! This is Dallin's new cousin, Emmi, she is the newest family member in our lives. So tiny and cute! And I am proud to announce the Dallin will have two more cousins this year (what? gasp! who is it?) OK, so one of them is only a pretend cousin, Baby Gillman. Baby Gillman is coming in early October to my friend Tashina, yeah for Tashina!! The next baby is really a cousin. My sister, Kodi, is pregnant with her first, due in mid-October. Wahoo! Hooray for cute babies!Speaking of babies, here is a cute conversation I overheard between a 3 year old girl and her mother:Girl: "Mom, can I get a baby sister?"Mom: "No."Girl: "Please, please, pleeeease, can I get baby sister?"Mom: "No, you're not going to get one."Girl: "Why not?"Mom: "Because you already have a big brother."(Me laughing out loud, a bit too loud)Girl: "But I want a baby sister!!!!!"Mom: "Well you're NOT getting one!!!"Girl: "But I really, really want one. Why can't I have one?"Dad finally interjecting, "Because they get big."I could tell that they had had this conversation one too many times!

Sail Away

With Dallin's room evolving into a sailboat theme, the step stool that I have been planning on making him for a while had to have a sailboat on it. I purchased the unfinished stool at Michael's and made my own template for the boat. I got out my acrylics and painted away, making sure every line was as straight as possible (ha ha, I can never make a straight line). I waited for the paint to dry. Then.... Like every other paint job I do, I have to make it look old and dirty. I got out the electric sander, held my breath, and "ruined" the paint job. I love this technique.

botón, bouton, ボタン, κουμπί

Any way you say it, they are still fun and fancy free. After a long two week wait, I received my "vintage button lot" from ebay in the mail. Now, what to do, what to do???

Sticky Doorknobs

Mom showed Dallin how to open a door about a month ago. He has finally mastered this new task. If you want some privacy on the loo, you had better lock the door on the way in. It now seems as though every door knob I turn is sticky. This one looks shiny, but it is deceiving you.If you look closely, you can see the culprit, munching on sticky pears, in the reflection of the door knob.

Way too many PJ bottoms?? Oh Scrap!

After cleaning out my closet the other day and finding about 15 pairs of pajama bottoms, I thought that Dallin could use a rug for his bedroom. I picked out 3 pair of somewhat coordinating pairs and started ripping. I then ran to the store and grabbed a couple dollar yards of dark blue fabric and went to work crocheting. I LOVE it and Dallin has pointed at it so I think that means he likes it too! Close up shot... Some of these fabrics came from bottoms that were given to us by family members, so it was nice to still have them around, and not off to Good Will.

One Dollar Vase

My friend and I found these cute Spring vases at our local dollar store, ONE DOLLAR! Too bad I brought it home and promptly knocked it over and broke it!

Breakfast (for Dad or on Dad) in Bed

After a late night at work, we let Daddy sleep in and made him breakfast in bed. Mom HAD to run downstairs and grab the camera, because I had to sit on Dad's lap and help him eat.

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in...

Paul took one of our big moving boxes and made Dallin a house. Hey, dad! You are too big for my house!
I guess I will just have to join you.Now, I have it all to myself.
But I am bored, so I will drag my house all over and stomp on it.

Tornado Dallin

Tornado Dallin hit, unsuspectingly, around 1:45 in the afternoon. In a matter of 20 minutes the whole room was torn apart. The toddler reached speeds up to 90 mph, wrecking everything in its path. With all the damage done, he had to call in the disaster relief clean up crew, Team Mommy. Thank goodness she has the skills to make chaos right.Above: The aftermath of Tornado Dallin

Below: All is made right due to the amazing volunteer efforts of Team Mommy

One done, it's a miracle!

I finished this blanket a couple weeks ago. I am so proud of myself for actually finishing it and not putting in a corner to gather dust. Some people think that the best part of a project is finishing it. I love finishing projects, yet I love the creative process that I go through while I am making something. I get bored easily doing the same thing all the time, however. Thus my billions of unfinished projects. Anyway, the blanket is finished and only a little crooked in spots. But, hey, I made up the pattern myself, so it came out better than I thought it would!

Eye Spy

This is Dallin's newest thing. He does this anytime we talk about eyes and then he scoots close up to our own eyes and giggles.

Sometimes we have to much time on our hands. One afternoon, we all sat on our landing, stared out the window, and took some crazy pictures... of our eyes. And then I had to pull up Picasa on the computer and crop and edit, as if I had nothing else to do. I think that the picture of Paul's eye is really cool because you can see the reflection of our neighborhood in it.
This is the cutest eye that I have ever seen. Dallin would not let us take a close up of his eye. Thank goodness for editing.
We tried to get a "reflection shot" of my eye as well. Did I mention that I love photo editing?? You can't even tell that I have yesterday's eye makeup on still... shocking, I know!